Visiting Bucharest again was a very interesting experience, judging by the fact that I have not been there in the last 17 years – so it was pretty easy for me to see that the city changed, that the old comunist buildings are now fading away, while office buildings "made of glass" seem to take over the northern part of the city.

But what I remember very well and make me wonder why I have not been there in the last years is the fact that I saw the most beautiful womens in the world on the streets of this city.

Yes, the women in Bucharest like to thrill your view with modern clothing, and they are always very well dressed, and at the same time they are using the make-up like true artists do.

So of course I wanted to try to find some massage saloons, or to get some interesting experience and have a glance at the night life, although I was here with a lot of business.

Finally, when I realised that I won't have the time to get out in a club to try my luck, I searched on the internet (google it, of course) and after a couple of tries and a couple of websites where I have studied what can be done and how can be done, I have decided to use the services of the Confidential massage saloon.

This saloon is very interesting, as they are really offering a wide array of services, even with some oriental types of massage, which is fantastic, but in my case the thing that I was interested in was to actually have a great massage at the hotel, which a realisesd through a booking on their website – click here to find more.

So yes – I had again, after 17 years, a very iteresting experience in Bucharest.

This post is written by the lovely Dalya Moon, who was referred to me by my previous guest, deshipley. With her words:

Tamara Paulin (authorial alias, Dayla Moon) sums herself up in her blog’s hello: “I’m just like you; I wake up with perfect hair and makeup, and bluebirds help me put on my silk robe.” In additon to her humble everywomanhood, she has a delightful sense of humor. I’ve been enjoying her posts for a few weeks, now, and I’m willing to bet you’ll have fun with her, too.

MotivationImage by topshampatti via FlickrIn high school, I finished every assignment at the last minute: on the bus, on the way to school. Later in life, when I became a freelance graphic designer, I set my own deadlines, and I still did most of the work at the last minute.

But in 2002, something happened that changed my approach to work. I woke up one morning in September with an excruciating pain in my chest. It felt like a knife. It was an anxiety attack.

I decided I never wanted to feel that last-minute panic again. My external motivation–fear of failure to my design clients–wasn’t enough.

For the first time in my life, I tried internal motivation. I sought the personal pleasure of starting projects early, having a solid plan, and finishing by my own internal soft deadline, well ahead of the hard external deadline.

So, if you want to finish writing a book, how are you going to change your work habits? (And let’s face it, writing is work–often pleasurable and immensely satisfying, but still work.)

Some writers seek external motivators. They’ll start a blog and declare they’ll write x number of words per day, posting updates or excuses. Some take a workshop or course with built-in deadlines, and they’ll complete their assignments to avoid embarrassment in front of the other students, or because they don’t want to waste the tuition money.

Those aren’t bad ideas, and if they work for you, I say go for it.

But … what about finding the motivation and drive within yourself? What about deciding your hopes and dreams aren’t silly at all? You don’t even need to tell another living soul if you don’t want to.

Even if you have supportive friends and family–and I hope you do–know that the most important person to have caring about your goals is you.

Why not make a promise to yourself, and focus on the pleasure of meeting your goals ahead of (a reasonable) schedule? Why not try to exceed your own expectations of yourself? Start simple, and be supportive of all progress. Try schedules or progress charts or cupcakes or anything else that helps. But most importantly, give yourself permission to feel good, to feel proud of what you’re doing for yourself.

You’re the one holding the pen; you’re the one with the most to gain.

* * *BIO: Dalya Moon writes novels that are called “sweet” and “light-hearted.” She may have to one day murder someone (on the page) to be taken seriously, but for now she’s happy to not be taken seriously at all. She is the author of Charlie Woodchuck is a Minor Niner and Practice Cake, which are both available on Amazon and Smashwords. www.dalyamoon.com

When I’m stuck in my writing I always take a book out – doesn’t matter what, if I only read to motivate myself to write again, it can be a good book, a bad book, a boring book, I’d find something that nudges me to go back and continue with writing. It’s actually better when a book is bad because it’s easier to stop reading.

Last week, I read a bad book. And still couldn’t put it down. It wasn’t the story, it wasn’t the one-dimensional characters or the author’s rather boring voice. It was the relationships. It was love, all love, unselfish, complete and quite innocent love – and I couldn’t stop reading. I dove into it and didn’t want to come up to see that’s all just been a dream. Fiction.

As a consequence, I was quite… distant these days, my mind was in a completely different place and was happy to be there.

Which also meant that my blogging, my writing, my nano was put aside. I don’t like that part much now but still, my head is too dazzled with Edward to bother much. (Oh yeah, you’ve caught me: I’m on the dark side now. I’m a Twilight fan.)

As for nano, it means that I’m a tad behind. I’m 9173 words instead of the target 11667 – given that I’ve missed two whole days, this cc. 78% is not too bad. But I’ll have to work even harder to bring it up again.

As for blogging, I simply didn’t have the capacity to visit all my favourite people and it makes me feel even guiltier. I should not do that.

Looking back, this week was about characters – I showed you how my Baul started off as Matthew Perry, deshipley shared some conversations with her characters and I’ve also found some interesting videos in the topic.

So how was your week? Any interesting conversation you had with your own, or somebody else’s characters?